Fatal Attraction

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1:25

Fatal Attraction

R

1987

1h 59m

Mystery & Thriller

Drama

Romance

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

75%

Tomatometer

59 Reviews

72%

Popcornmeter

50,000+ Ratings

For Dan Gallagher (Michael Douglas), life is good. He is on the rise at his New York law firm, is happily married to his wife, Beth (Anne Archer), and has a loving daughter. But, after a casual fling with a sultry book editor named Alex (Glenn Close), everything changes. Jilted by Dan, Alex becomes unstable, her behavior escalating from aggressive pursuit to obsessive stalking. Dan realizes that his main problem is not hiding his affair, but rather saving himself and his family.

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Critics Consensus

A potboiler in the finest sense, Fatal Attraction is a sultry, juicy thriller that's hard to look away from once it gets going.

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Pauline Kael

The New Yorker

Sep 15, 2023

This is a horror film based on the sanctity of the family -- the dream family. It enforces conventional morality (in the era of AIDS) by piling on paranoiac fear. The family that kills together stays together, and the audience is hyped up.

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Adam Nayman

The Ringer

May 5, 2023

It’s a fine line between pathos and ridiculousness, and Close walks it like a velvet tightrope.

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Jay Scott

Globe and Mail

Dec 7, 2022

Fatal Attraction evolves toward the cheaply manipulative and silly.

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Richard Freedman

Newark Star-Ledger

Jan 7, 2026

2.5/4

Until it goes berserk in the last reel or so, "Fatal Attraction" is an absorbing drama of civilized adultery that gets less civilized as it goes on to its inevitable conclusion.

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Savina Petkova

A Good Movie To Watch

Nov 24, 2023

77/100

Seen from a slightly removed perspective, the film becomes a stylized variation on conservative AIDS panic and a provocation to conservative heteronormativity. It has to be said that not all of the film has aged well.

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Q.V. Hough

Vague Visages

Jun 23, 2023

However lethal Alex may be, Lyne introduces notes of empathy in an ingenious way...

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SIMAS C

@simas_eros Nov 4, 2026

The level of physical and psychological violence is too intense for this film to be called erotic. Aside from a few bolder scenes, the tension is far more disturbing than it is arousing. It is a metaphorically moralistic thriller about the consequences of a married man’s infidelity with a mistress who becomes dangerously obsessive.

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Kitty K

@kc99291 Nov 2, 2026

Incredible slice of time. Deliciously shot and edited. Superb screenplay that is not afraid to "go there." I think a lot of the woke mob needs to calm down. This is not anti-feminist. It is a parable of greed and desire.

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Teddy B

@RT90521672 Nov 2, 2026

A mess of misplaced sympathy and strange slasher cruelty, 'Fatal Attraction' doesn't feel like a horror or a thriller film, just a big, inconsistent slog with standout moments.

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Freddy V

@RT18427309 Oct 25, 2026

This is Obsession X 10. Very thrilling, but I never wanna watch it again. To damn scary. I'm not even kidding.

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Afonso F

@RT17697035 Sep 21, 2026

Nice movie, just felt that some of the options weren't very well supported, mainly in the affair: -At least from my understanding, in any part of the movie they gave any hint of Dan being unhappy with the marriage with Beth, so he had no reason to cheat on his wife, usually I would expect him to be frustrated in his marriage leading him to cheat, so I don't think it represents well real life -Seemed like he felt no regrets about having cheated on his wife, it was a weekend in the affair and then moved on with life like nothin happened... I know it is not the point of the movie but still, felt like it could have been worked out a bit better.

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Robert P

@Superbad Sep 10, 2026

Fatal Attraction = A *3.5* star movie!

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Adrian Lyne

Director

Michael Douglas

Dan Gallagher

Glenn Close

Alex Forrest

Anne Archer

Beth Gallagher

Ellen Latzen

Ellen Gallagher

Stuart Pankin

Jimmy

Fatal Attraction: Official Clip - A Married Man

1:50

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Fatal Attraction: Official Clip - Alex Comes Over

2:13

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Fatal Attraction: Official Clip - Bathroom Brawl

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Fatal Attraction: Official Clip - Not Going to Be Ignored

2:11

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Fatal Attraction: Official Clip - Boiled Bunny

1:29

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Fatal Attraction: Official Clip - Alex Is Pregnant

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Fatal Attraction: Official Clip - Bloody Farewell

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Fatal Attraction: Official Clip - Lying in the Park

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Synopsis

For Dan Gallagher (Michael Douglas), life is good. He is on the rise at his New York law firm, is happily married to his wife, Beth (Anne Archer), and has a loving daughter. But, after a casual fling with a sultry book editor named Alex (Glenn Close), everything changes. Jilted by Dan, Alex becomes unstable, her behavior escalating from aggressive pursuit to obsessive stalking. Dan realizes that his main problem is not hiding his affair, but rather saving himself and his family.

Director: Adrian Lyne
Producer: Stanley R. Jaffe, Sherry Lansing
Screenwriter: James Dearden, Nicholas Meyer
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Production Co: Paramount Pictures
Rating: R
Genre: Mystery & Thriller, Drama, Romance
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 11, 1987, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 6, 2010
Box Office (Gross USA): $154.0M
Runtime: 1h 59m
Sound Mix: Surround, Stereo

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